Bourjos, perhaps baseball’s premier defensive center fielder, has been made expendable in Anaheim by the emergence of Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo. Still, there are a lot of teams that would love to have him. A lifetime .252/.302/.413 hitter, he’ll make close to the minimum again next year and he won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2016 season.

The market for Morales would be more limited, since he’s probably still not ready to be an everyday first baseman after tearing up his ankle a couple of years ago. Also, he’s been pretty average offensively this year with a .284/.330/.428 line and nine homers in 264 at-bats.

The Angels are hoping to shore up both their rotation and pen, and they’re in the market for big names like Cole Hamels and Zack Greinke. The Phillies and Brewers both likely would have some interest in Bourjos. The Nationals would surely love to have him, but with Drew Storen still trying to work his way back from elbow surgery, it’d be difficult for them to part with the relief help (likely Tyler Clippard) the Angels would want in return.

Good for you. But he’s a top flight defensive outfielder, one of the fastest guys in baseball, and makes enough contact to make it worth your while. So make sure all the GMs of contending teams check in with you.

I think the point was that the Brewers have a guy just like that in Gomez. Center field is probably the deepest position on the team, with Gomez, Morgan, Aoki(in a pinch) and Schafer in triple A.

jon623 - Jul 18, 2012 at 7:36 PM

^This. Absolutely.

cosanostra71 - Jul 18, 2012 at 11:49 PM

I hope we don’t part with Bourjos. If it’s possible to make an outfield of Bourjos, Trout and Trumbo work… wow that would be great.

hittfamily - Jul 18, 2012 at 6:44 PM

Would Farnesworth for Morales be out of the question? Farnesworth is a valuable bullpen asset, but a bit expensive to be a middle reliever. Morales is very limited in his abilities, but would be nice to platoon with Carlos Pena and Luke Scott.

The only thing that might hold this back is that the 2 teams are racing to the same finish line. But really, aren’t the majority of all AL teams?

And Farnesworth was a top tier closer last year. Morales is expensive, with little team control. Hell, would the Angels even pick up his 6-9 million dolar option this offseason? We aren’t talking about what someone accomplished 4 years ago though are we? Upton for Trout? One was posting a .950 OPS. The other was a junior in high school.

Farnsworth is a 36-year-old reliever who has has bounced around baseball for the past decade and a half because he’s simply not that great. He’s got a career 4.27 ERA and 1.37 WHIP, that’s not the sign of a shutdown reliever. Yes, he had a very good year with the Rays last year, but one year does not a career make and he’s certainly not more valuable going forward than Kendrys Morales, especially since his contract has him making $2.6M this year with a $3.3M option (or a $650K buyout) for next season, whereas Morales is making just shy of $3M this year and is still arbitration eligible for next season.

If that weren’t reason enough, Farnsworth has only tossed five innings this year, five bad innings, what about this deal makes sense for the Angels?!

Plus, as if I needed any more evidence that this is ridiculous, Fernando Rodney is proving that the Rays can take any pumpkin and turn it into a legit closer for a year. Farnsworth’s big year was a fluke. Period. There is absolutely no reason the Angels would make this move.

The Crew doesn’t appear to be in the market for an outfielder. I can’t imagine why we would add another average bat to the lineup. Currently the crew has Braun, Gomez, Morgan, Aoki in the outfield. Aoki has proven to be a valuable offensive weapon and Braun is a top player in MLB. Gomez is a plus defender and Morgan provides the left-handed bat off the bench.
If you want to extend the debate, you could say Hart is in that group as well since he was moved to first base since the Crew had no other options. If Hart was to move back to outfield then it would Braun, Aoki (center) and Hart (right field).

he’s a sophomore who really hasn’t gotten regular playing Time, unfortunately. his average is going nowhere but up. more importantly, that 1 in 4 times he’s on results in at least one steal and he is a future gold glover, easily.

Any team without 3 studs in the outfield should be calling Jerry Dipoto and seeing if they can get Bourjos for a reliever. Bourjos is a much better player than Carlos Gomez. Gomez has a terrible approach at the plate, and isn’t as good a defender. Bourjos probably isn’t going to be a star, but he’d be a very valuable member of any club. Somewhere between 2 – 4 WAR depending on how his offense develops. Having that kind of guy under team control for 4 years is incredibly valuable.

Yes, my favorite team is the Orioles and I think they should definitely try to make this deal (just to keep with the theme of everyone saying their team should be in on this).